BOSTON MANOR HOUSE CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN ISSUE 05 MARCH 2018 Alex Prior/Brilliana Harley On behalf of Purcell ® 15 Bermondsey Square, Tower Bridge Road, London SE1 3UN [email protected] www.purcelluk.com
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002.237909 BOSTON MANOR HOUSE: CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN CONTENTS
HOW TO USE THIS DOCUMENT 04 4 ASSESSMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE 85 4.1 Introduction 85 4.2 Assessment 87 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 05 4.3 Significance Plans 90
1 INTRODUCTION 06 5 ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIES 92 1.1 Purpose of the Report 06 5.1 Introduction 92 1.2 Scope of the Study 06 5.2 Legislation and Statutory Control 93 1.3 Existing Information and Resources 06 5.3 Retaining and Enhancing Heritage Value 97 1.4 Authorship 07 5.4 Setting and Views 99 1.5 Consultation, Adoption and Review 07 5.5 Access and Circulation 99 5.6 Interpretation and Visitor Experience 99 5.7 Condition, Maintenance and Repair 100 2 SITE DESCRIPTION 08 5.8 Use and Commercial Opportunities 101 2.1 Location and Context 08 5.9 Summary of Issues and Opportunities 101 2.2 Management and Use 10 2.3 Heritage Context 10 2.4 Undesignated Heritage Assets 10 6 CONSERVATION POLICIES 102 2.5 Conservation Areas 11 6.1 Using the Policies 102 2.6 Setting 12 2.7 Description 17 BIBLIOGRAPHY 111
3 HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT 47 3.1 Historic Development of Brentford 47 APPENDICES 3.2 Historic Development of The Boston Manor Estate 48 A: Designations 112 3.3 Historic Development of Boston Manor House 61 B: Regional and Local Planning Policy 114 3.4 Context: Jacobean Architecture 81 3.5 Historic Development Plans 83 HOW TO USE THIS DOCUMENT
This Conservation Management Plan is intended to be a usable report which contributes to the successful future management and This provides an overview of the CMP, including its overarching aims and Executive Summary use of Boston Manor House. It provides baseline information that conclusions contributes to an overall understanding of the place, as well as highlighting areas where both buildings and their various elements can be improved – not only as part of planned works forming part This outlines what the scope of the CMP is, who wrote it and why, what 1 Introduction of a Heritage Lottery Fund application but also in the longer-term information about the site exists and what the overall vision is. Orientation and future of the place. Getting to Know the Place This is where to find out about the heritage context setting and important The Conservation Management Plan analyses the historic 2 Site Description views of the site. It also provides overview descriptions of the site and its development of Boston Manor House its setting, context, character areas as well as how it is managed and used. management, use and what makes it important – the heritage values or significance. This overall understanding provides evidence and helps set precedents for future management, maintenance and 3 History and Development This outlines the history and development of the site and its key buildings. development, helping to ensure that the overall vision for Boston Manor House is fully understood, appreciated and maintained by A More Detailed all stakeholders. Understanding This provides an understanding of what makes the site important, why and 4 Assessment of Significance to whom. It is directly linked to the historic development and heritage The adjacent illustration outlines what information can be found context of the site. where in the Conservation Management Plan, based on three main aims: Identifies the risks and conflicts with regards to significance and potential for 5 Challenges and Opportunities or need for change and provides an outline set of opportunities to improve 01 Orientation and getting to know the place management and use and enhance heritage value. Creating a Positive 02 A more detailed understanding Future The overarching framework for the future of the site, developed in line with 03 Creating a positive future 6 Conservation Policies the overall vision and the information developed in the sections above. It includes recommendations policies and actions.
04 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This Conservation Management Plan (CMP) concerns Boston The council’s vision is to secure the long-term future of a highly maps, plans and illustrations. Section 4 completes the Manor House in the London Borough of Hounslow. The house is significant listed building. This consists of an overarching manifesto understanding by assessing the building’s significance adopting the located on the west side of the Boston Manor Road (A3002) statement of intent for the site, as well as a list of more specific values-based approach recommended by Historic England. within Boston Manor Park, which covers 27 hectares on the north goals and aims: side of the River Brent valley. Following a robust understanding of the development of the house and consultation with key stakeholders, the second half of the CMP COUNCILS GOALS AND AIMS Boston Manor House is a statutorily listed grade I Jacobean manor then explores issues affecting the house and identifies house built in the early 1620s by Lady Mary Reade. It was then • to remove the building from the Heritage at Risk Register. opportunities to address those issues. Of major concern to the extended in 1670 when the house passed to the Clitherow Family council is the extensive and worsening state of disrepair and decay • to restore the building and bring new uses to safeguard it’s and again in the early 18th century when the service wing was of the house which has lead to the building being included on the future sustainability. constructed to the north. The house, the statutorily listed stable Heritage at Risk Register. The council are keen to explore block to the north and the boundary wall to Boston Manor Road • to celebrate the history of this building to new audiences opportunities to arrest and reverse the damaging effects of are all within the Grand Union Canal and Boston Manor in a fully accessible way. underuse and neglect, to provide new appropriate uses for the Conservation Area, designated in July 2001. The stables and wider building and to provide an improved visitor experience, including parkland are outside the scope of this CMP. This CMP is required as part of a second round Heritage Lottery DDA access to the public areas. Fund bid to raise capital to complete a programme of repairs and Since its original construction date, the house remained in private alterations aimed at securing an appropriate use for the listed Based on an understanding of these issues and opportunities, the residential use for 300 years until 1924 when it was sold at auction building. A Conservation Management Plan for the house was final section of this document provides a set of policies to guide to the local council. It has been used for various purposes including prepared by LDN Architects in 2011 and a Conservation future change at the site and ensure this is managed sensitivity and in a school, The National Institute of Housecraft Ltd and most Management Plan for the Park was prepared by Peter McGowan a manner which preserves and enhances the significance of the listed recently flats for The Housing Association for Women. During this Associates in 2011. The LDN Plan has been reviewed and has building. The policies encourage an extensive and immediate latter period, the service wing was extensively remodelled and has formed the baseline for this updated CMP. programme of repairs, promote good conservation practice, since fallen into a state of dereliction and decay following the encourage improvements to the visitor experience and are designed departure of the Association in the mid-1990s. The house is now The first half of this CMP provides the reader with an to ensure that through managed change, the significance of the listed at Category C on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register. understanding of Boston Manor House: Section 1 explains the house is preserved for future generation to experience and enjoy. The house continues to be owned and managed by the local purpose and scope of the CMP and identifies any gaps in authority and is open Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays knowledge. Section 2 describes the setting, exteriors and interiors The CMP is supported by a gazetteer which looks at the individual from 12 noon to 5pm from March to October and closed from of the house using current photographs and Section 3 provides a elements that make up the site, setting out their relative November to February. detailed history of the estate and house supported by historic significance and element-specific issues, opportunities and policies.
05 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 PURPOSE OF THE REPORT The house and its service wing are an underused, poorly 1.2 SCOPE OF THE STUDY understood, important local heritage asset. Following conservation The CMP concentrates on the main house and the service wing as Boston Manor House is situated on the west side of Boston Manor and repair, the council are proposing to enhance the cultural value shown within the site boundary outlined on the site plan on page Road (A3002) in the Borough of Hounslow, in West London. It of the building by providing a new fully-accessible community hub 09. The stables block to the north and the wider parkland and was built in the early 1620s as the home of Lady Mary Reade and incorporating improved visitor facilities and interpretation spaces. estate are not within the scope of this study and are not sat at the administrative and geographic centre of a large manorial considered in detail, but the house cannot be assessed in isolation, estate. In 1923 Colonel Stacey Clitherow sold Boston Manor This CMP is required as part of a second round Heritage Lottery so the wider context and setting are briefly discussed. House and 20 acres of the parkland estate to Brentford Urban Fund bid to raise capital to complete the next phase of proposed District Council for £23,000. The park opened to the public in alterations. In 2011 Hounslow Borough Council, with support from English 1924 and continues to be owned and managed by Hounslow Heritage, commissioned a suite of reports including a Conservation Borough Council. This document highlights the issues and an opportunity associated Management Plan for the House01, a Conservation Management with the building and provides recommendations and policies Plan for the Park02 and an Options Appraisal.03 This Conservation The house is statutorily listed at grade I and is within the Grand which will guide future management, maintenance and Management Plan forms an update to that prepared by LDN Union Canal and Boston Manor Conservation Area. When conservation. This is based on an understanding of the heritage Architects in 2011. considering whether to grant planning permission for development asset’s significance which is assessed in Section 4 of this CMP. which affects a listed building or its setting, Section 66 of the 1.3 EXISTING INFORMATION AND RESOURCES Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 requires local planning authorities to have special regard to the There is a wealth of published and archive material regarding the desirability of preserving the building or its setting or any features development of Brentford and the manorial estate. There is less of special architectural or historic interest which it possesses. primary archive material available concerning the history of the Section 72(1) of the Act requires decision makers with respect to house specifically. This is possibly due to breaking up of the estate any buildings or other land within a conservation area to pay special and changes in ownership during the 19th and 20th centuries and attention to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the dispersal of the contents of the house – possibly including estate character or appearance of that area. papers.
Hounslow Borough Council’s vision for Boston Manor House is to sensitively repair and conserve the grade I listed structure, which is currently on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register, where it is 01 CMP Boston Manor House, LDN Architects June 2011 listed as Priority Category C. 02 CMP Boston Manor Park, Peter McGowen Associates May 2011 03 Jurra Consultants
06 INTRODUCTION 1
Key publications include T. Cadell and W. Davies The Environs of London: 1.4 AUTHORSHIP Volume 2 County of Middlesex (London 1795), Victoria County History’s A This Conservation Management Plan has been prepared by Purcell, History of the County of Middlesex Volume 7 (London 1982), G. Faulkener’s a firm of architects and heritage consultants specialising in the The History and Antiquities of Brentford, Chiswick and Ealing (1845), J. conservation of the historic environment. This document has been McNamara’s Boston Manor: A History and Guide (1998) and G. Clegg’s prepared by: Brentford Past (2002).
• Alex Prior BA (Hons), MSc Boston Manor House also holds a good deal of miscellaneous information explaining the history and development of the house. • Brilliana Harley BA, MA These include guidebooks, copies of Country Life articles, Brentford • Katharine Barber BA (Hons) MCIfA and Chiswick Local History Journal and the Home Counties Magazine. Relevant archival material is reproduced within the CMP 1.5 CONSULTATION, ADOPTION AND and a full bibliography of sources is included in Appendix A. REVIEW This CMP also references guidance documentation from various This Conservation Management Plan has been developed, and has bodies, including: informed, a concurrent Listed Building Application (also by Purcell) for the proposed repair of the grade I listed building fabric and the • Conservation Plan Guidance, 2012, Heritage Lottery Fund re-presentation of the house as a premier community facility. Consultation with various stakeholder groups include the • Conservation Principles, 2008, English Heritage management and staff of Boston Manor House, Historic England • Clark, K. Informed Conservation: Understanding Historic and London Borough Hounslow. Following adoption, the Buildings and their Landscapes for Conservation (2001) Conservation Management Plan should be reviewed on a regular basis, usually every five years or when major change occurs, or • National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), 2012 when a new project is proposed. • The Setting of Heritage Assets: Historic Environment Good Practice Advice in Planning: 3, 2015, Historic England
07 2 SITE DESCRIPTION
2.1 LOCATION AND CONTEXT Boston Manor House overlooks the park from its highest point to the north. It is orientated roughly north west/south east with the Boston Manor Park covers an area of 27 hectares on the north house’s principal elevation addressing the Boston Manor Road. The side of the River Brent valley. The park slopes gently to the south house is a grade I listed Jacobean manor house erected in the early and south west from its highest point at approximately 18.5m 17th century and located in the present-day Borough of Hounslow AOD at the park’s north entrance, down to approximately 6.0m in west London. It is situated on the west side of Boston Manor AOD along the banks of the River Brent. Road behind a high brick boundary wall (listed grade II) - a remnant of the historic Boston Manor Estate boundary wall. A detached The historic Boston Manor estate once extended as far north as stable block (grade II) is situated to the north of the house and to the present-day Piccadilly line and as far south as the River Thames the north west is a large ornamental lake, laid out in the early 18th to include much of the historic settlement at Brentford. The estate century. Open parkland occupies the immediate area to the west was gradually dismantled throughout the 19th and 20th centuries of the house, which is dominated by particularly fine veteran cedar and now extends to the headquarters of GlaxoSmithKline to the trees, planted by James Clitherow in the mid-18th century. The south, the River Brent to the west, the Boston Manor Road parkland character extends to the immediate south, giving way to (A3002) and the residential properties to the north and north east tennis courts, bowls club and nos. 28 and 66 Boston Manor Road, and the residential properties around Boston Gardens and the built within the former estate kitchen gardens. The house and park edge of London Playing Fields to the north and north west. The are situated within the Grand Union Canal and Boston Manor M4 motorway flyover bisects the park from the north west to the Conservation which was designated in July 2001. south east and is a particularly dominant and intrusive feature within the historic parkland setting.
08 SITE DESCRIPTION 2
BOSTON MANOR ROAD N N
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N T Boston Manor House Boston Manor Park 01 Lodge 02 Former Stables 03 Service Wing 04 Boston Manor House
This plan is not to scale
Location Plan of Boston Manor Park and House Site plan Boston Manor House
09 2 SITE DESCRIPTION
2.2 MANAGEMENT AND USE 2.4 UNDESIGNATED HERITAGE ASSETS Name: Boston Manor House, Boston Manor Park, The manor house was built for the accommodation and Boston Manor Road Locally listed buildings are buildings identified by the local planning entertainment of a family in the seventeenth century and List entry Number: 1079603 authority as contributing positively to local character and maintained this function, despite changeovers in the owning family, Grade I distinctiveness. Local listing does not provide additional statutory until after the First World War, when it proved too expensive to Date first listed: 11th July 1951 protection, but a property included within the local list is a material run. In 1923 Brentford Urban District Council bought the house consideration in planning decisions. The London Borough of and opened part of the grounds to the public. The Council let the 1622-3. C18 North wing. 3-storeys and attics. Red brick. 6 Hounslow is in the process of updating their existing list. There are property to a school from the 1940s. The National Institute of windows in stone architraves. Stone cornice between 2nd and no locally listed buildings within Boston Manor Park. Housecraft Limited occupied the house during the 1960s and The 3rd storeys. Stone porch with balustrade like that at Lilford Over Forty Association for Women Workers in the 1970s; to suit Hall. Northants (1635). Interior has splendid early C17 ceilings, these functions the house and service wing was divided into flats. fine C18 wallpaper on upper staircase. Fine carved main Today the house is uninhabited but opens to the public at staircase. weekends between April and October. Drawing room ceiling divided by moulded ribs into oblong and 2.3 HERITAGE CONTEXT square panels, broken into semi-circular and segmental Boston Manor Park comprises several listed buildings and cuspings, connected by short corss- ribs. Within some of the structures, including the house (Grade I), the former stables panels are strap-work cartouches containing emblamatic (Grade II) and the garden wall, gates and gateposts (Grade II). figures; including the 4 elements designed by the C17 Dutch These are protected under the Planning (Listed Buildings and artist Mare Gheercerts, and engraved by Galle. The house was Conservation Areas) Act 1990 for their special architectural or damaged in the war and was extensively restored prior to its historic interest. Listing gives them protection as alterations, reopening in 1963. Is now occupied by National Institute for additions or demolitions are controlled by Listed Building Consent, Housecraft Limited. See ‘Country Life’ March 18th 1965. AM. which is required by local planning authorities when change is proposed. Boston Manor House is in the Grand Union Canal and Listing NGR: TQ 16839 78339 Boston Manor Conservation Area. Section 72 (1) of the principal Act requires that special attention be paid to the desirability of Boston Manor House is surrounded by a number of other heritage preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of assets, these are shown on the plan overleaf and full listing conservation areas. descriptions are provided in Appendix A.
10 SITE DESCRIPTION 2
2.5 CONSERVATION AREAS HERITAGE ASSETS The application site lies within The Grand Union Canal and Boston Grade I 01 Boston Manor House Manor Conservation Area which was originally designated in July Grade II 02 Former Stables 2001. Section 72(1) of the principal Act requires decision makers Grand Union Canal and Boston Manor 03 Park Wall and Gateway with respect to any buildings or other land within a conservation Conservation Area area to pay special attention to the desirability of preserving or This plan is not to scale enhancing the character or appearance of that area.
The Grand Union Canal and Boston Manor Consultation Draft Conservation Area Appraisal was published in September 2017. It identifies the particular character of the conservation area and the N unique qualities which make the area special. Once adopted, the appraisal will become a material consideration when determining 03 planning applications. The conservation area contains several unique character areas identified by the local planning authority. Boston Manor House and Park are within Character Area 2. 02 03
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Plan showing the grade I listed Boston Manor House and surrounding heritage assets
11 2 SITE DESCRIPTION
2.6 SETTING
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View 01 View 02 View 03 View along Boston Manor Road approaching Boston Manor House View along Boston Manor Road approaching Boston Manor House View of Boston Manor House across Boston Manor Road from the from the north. The site boundary is demarcated by the statutorily from the north. The entrance to Boston Manor House is framed by east. The east elevation, shielded in places by tree canopy, is listed brick wall. brick piers with stone finishes with two subsidiary pedestrian largely visible behind the low boundary wall. The majority of the arched entrances either side of the carriage entrance. northern extension, on the right, sits behind a clump of trees.
13 2 SITE DESCRIPTION
View 04 View 05 View 06 View of Boston Manor House across Boston Manor Road from the View of Boston Manor boundary wall and gate piers from the View of the southern and the eastern facade, and part of the south. Full views of the south side of the house are obstructed by south-east. northern extension. tree canopy and foliage.
14 SITE DESCRIPTION 2
View 07 View 08 View 09 View of Boston Manor House from the west. The lake was laid out View of Boston Manor House from the west across Boston Manor View of Boston Manor House from the south-west across Boston in the eighteenth century. Park. The northern extension is partially concealed by trees. Manor Park. The cedar was planted as part of the landscape remodelling during the mid-eighteenth century.
15 2 SITE DESCRIPTION
View 10 View 11 View 12 View towards Boston Manor House from the underside of the M4 View towards Boston Manor House from the southern section of View from the footbridge across the Grand Union Canal in the flyover to the south of Boston Manor. The flyover, bisecting Boston Boston Manor Park. The M4 flyover is a particularly intrusive southern corner of Boston Manor Park, showing a large expanse of Manor Park, was constructed in 1964. feature which physically, visually and perceptually separates the trees and hedgerow, which originally afforded an interrupted view house from the wider estate. across to Boston Manor House.
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2.7 DESCRIPTION South-Eastern Elevation 2.7.1 EXTERIORS The south-eastern elevation is four bays wide and three storeys high with a gabled roof. The lower windows have segmental General pediments, the first-floor level windows have keystones set in Boston Manor House adopts a double-pile plan, with six bays by moulding and the second storey windows are linked by fragments four bays. The main house is three storeys, whilst the service wing of entablature. Blank moulded niches, like those on the north is two storeys. The building is brick with stone dressings and sash façade punctuate the gables. Each storey has a blank window. windows (with eighteenth-century alterations)
North-Eastern Elevation The north-eastern elevation, has six bays and three storeys. Regular fenestration and three gables at roof level create a balanced, tripartite arrangement. Ground storey sash windows are capped by enlarged keystones, entablatures and pediments, those South-western elevation at first storey level have keystones and moulding and the second storey windows are joined by short stretches of entablature above their mouldings. The gables contain blank moulded niches. A weighty stone cornice with dentils clearly separates the first storey from the second. A stone porch with a balustrade, a nineteenth- century addition, frames the door at the centre of the ground floor.
South-Western Elevation The south-western elevation is composed of six bays and three storeys, crowned by three gables; however, unlike the north-east side, this façade is characterised more by irregularity and asymmetry. The left bay has three pairs of symmetrical windows, whilst the right bay has only three single windows, and the central bay has an unbalanced arrangement of six windows. The four ground floor windows have keystones, entablatures and pediments, North-eastern elevation whilst the other windows are topped only with keystones in moulding or sections of entablature. The weighty stone cornice punctuates the building between first and second storey level, but is itself interrupted on the left-hand side of the central bay by a window. South-eastern elevation
17 2 SITE DESCRIPTION
Service Wing The extension is a long bay attached to the north-western elevation of Boston Manor House; it is built in red brick and comprises two storeys.
The north-east elevation of the wing has recessed round-headed windows with segmental brick heads at the northern end of the ground floor, which are linked by a section of moulded white string course. The southern end of the ground floor has square-headed sash windows. The first-floor windows are sash windows with segmental brick heads. There are three entrances, the furthest south has a moulded doorcase with an entablature supported by brackets.
The south-west side of the extension has less architectural detail North side of the north extension North side of the north extension than the north-east side. It has a stepped base and a stepped string-course at first floor level. Small casement windows mark the ground floor level and the first-floor has larger sash windows with segmental brick heads.
South side of the north extension South side of the north extension
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2.7.2 INTERIORS N Basement TS The basement spaces tend to have stone floors and painted and exposed brick walls. The main room has a flat ceiling and the smaller rooms tend to have barrel-vaulted ceilings. There is little of historic decorative value; the series of spaces are utilitarian in TS appearance, some occupied with plant and others with large pipes, ducts and service points.